The Voice of Cities and Regions in the UNFCCC Climate Process

The LGMA has served as the voice of cities and regions in global processes since were designated an official United Nations constituency group at the 1992 UN Earth Summit. We advocated for local governments at the first climate COP in 1995 and continue to achieve advocacy success for multilevel action across the climate, nature, and desertification agendas. Learn about our advocacy channels and get involved!

Every month, you’ll receive updates about how cities and regions are engaging in the global climate agenda and other global sustainability processes, prepared for you by the Global Advocacy team at ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.

Through our webinars and bulletin, ICLEI’s Director of Global Advocacy Yunus Arikan, will be highlighting developments and key topics from the global climate arena to orient local and regional governments on the important issues of multilevel governance and progress in the global climate negotiations through the year, and in the leadup to COP30.

Upon the conclusion of COP29, the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) Constituency welcomes the first major climate finance deal in fifteen years. However, the deal is inadequate to ensure that communities around the world can protect themselves and represents the absolute floor of finance that is needed. With a disappointing lack of ambition in the overall COP29 outcomes, the LGMA Constituency stressed the increasing importance of multilevel action to ensure the climate fight continues at speed and scale.

Launched at COP28, CHAMP focuses on enhancing multilevel governance to ensure that climate commitments are not only made at the national level but also effectively implemented through coordinated efforts at all levels.

It aims to drive more ambitious climate action by fostering collaboration between different levels of government, including national, regional, and local authorities, as well as non-state actors such as businesses and civil society.

By hosting annual mini-COPs, local and subnational governments, along with their citizens, can engage in climate action by turning their city halls and other local venues into COP-like platforms.

Piloted in 2023 as “local stocktakes,” Town Hall COPs have since become a way for local and subnational governments to assess their climate progress, share insights, and collaborate with national governments. Importantly, they help integrate local voices into global climate policies, particularly countries’ Paris Agreement plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions.

We need effective multi-level governance to transform cities. To achieve this vision, the COP27 Presidency has launched the SURGe Initiative with the objective to enhance and accelerate local and urban climate action through multi-level governance, engagement, and delivery through five integrated tracks, contributing to achieving the Paris Climate Goals and Sustainable Development Goals.

SURGe is developed in collaboration with UN-Habitat, facilitated by ICLEI, and endorsed by 70+ global partners.